Beer Cocktails: The Classic Red Eye Or "Two And Juice"

A long time ago when the Earth was green... there was a pub in Halifax called the Midtown Tavern and it had a gentle soul of a waiter named Jerry. It could have been Gerry but I am not sure. It was not Gary. The Midtown is gone after a long going but, I understand, lives on in another shared space. Fortunately, the original building still exists in Google maps from which I grabbed the photo above.

As a mild youth in the mid-80s when you were a bit sensitive on a Saturday morning you went to the Midtown Tavern for a cheap meal of steak and eggs with which you drank "two and juice" - which was called that as you bought two eight ounce half glasses of what we called "draught" and were given a can of Campbell's tomato juice to go along with it. In the western Canadian provinces I understand that the drink is called a Red Eye and I even hear that it has this odd name of Michelada in some parts. For me, it is always two and juice.

My better half... or is it "Mistress" to my "lovely assistant" - can't recall... got a hankering for one of these and I went out to investigate the possibilities. We have the classic black red and white can of Campbell's as well as V-8 and that Canadian classic Clamato, the drink that made the Supreme Court think. I am going to explore some combinations and report back.

First up, to get things going, is Rolling Rock and Clamato Extra Spicy. At half and half, the snort is all Clamato - black pepper and Tabasco I'd say. In the mouth, there is something too rounded sweet even with the sharp spice. It is good but not the best I have had. To my mind, there should be a a cutting of the sweetness of the juice by the rough hopping of the basic brew. Yes, this is not a drink for your gueuze or saison. It needs the beer with no name.

Update three days later: as a second effort, I stick with the Rolling Rock but move to the plain tomato juice. This combo is very quaffable but also a bit flabby. Rolling Rock, I fear is simply not up to the task lacking sufficient bitterness to cut its own corn sweetness let alone that of the tomato juice. Worse than effort #1. A gateway Red Eye perhaps for those who fear yet are curious about Red Eyes. Perhaps a club of four throughout North America.

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Comments

I wonder if anyone ever had a go of creating a good snakebite or black-velvet using quality beer and cider, champagne, etc. Would Old Rasputin+Dom Perignon still be essentially shite? Here's my only effort at a beer cocktail: http://smallbeerblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/is-this-wrong.html

My wife is Mexican and she introduced me to the Red Beer. Now it is different down here, but what we usually do is a Mexican-ish beer like Dos Equis or Sol and we do half a lime squeezed, Clamato, and the amount is different every time, some mexican spices (which you can substitute Tapatio and Worcestershire sauce) and beer and ice and you are good.We love them down here in San Diego. Our local market has the cups already made with spices, you just need the lime, Clamato and beer.

A Black Velvet properly made is one of the great beer cocktails. I just made one with Veuve Cliquot and Guinness FES (Alan, you should be able to pick this up in your northern NY soujourns, it is a superb iteration of Guinness). You can use any decent sparkling wine, however too rich a stout and sparkler may be too much of a good thing, the drink should be refreshing too. I'd use any stout up to about 7% ABV that isn't too heavy (the FES is rich enough certainly) and and good sparkling wine again.

A Red Eye seems a regional North American drink - in many ways a kind of fruited beer since tomato is a fruit and sweetish when fresh. Our version of those European mixtures where fruits were added to various beers to form cups (in England) or punches in Germany and so forth, and perhaps too originally (who knows( the tomato was allowed to ferment in unfiltered beers at breweries a la kriek style - anyway there is a connection. I never saw it in Quebec, I firt encountered it in Winnipeg in the early 70's. As you implied Alan, it had a reputation as a mender of sensitive dispositions after a late night out.

"A Red Eye seems a regional North American drink - in many ways a kind of fruited beer since tomato is a fruit and sweetish when fresh. It's our original version of those European mixtures where fruits were added to various beers to form cups (in England) or punches in Germany and so forth, and perhaps too originally (who knows) the tomato was allowed to ferment in unfiltered beers at breweries a la kriek style - anyway there is a connection. I never saw it in Quebec, I first encountered it in Winnipeg in the early 70's. As you implied Alan, it had a reputation as a mender of sensitive dispositions after a late night out".

I'd like to add that with canned juices it's okay but made with fresh-pressed tomato juice from field tomatoes it is superb. I'd think this is how the drink was originally made.

So, if it wasn't in Quebec and I don't think I have heard of an Ontario version, I wonder if the Midtown was just selling the western drink or if it was an independent discovery. It was not in, for example, the LBR, Lower Deck or the Seahorse in early 1980s before they got trendy. There men salted their draught.

Yup, the salt thing was in Quebec Province too, this all in the past, associated with the old-style (male only) tavern of which none survive I believe. There is a certain "brasserie" with similar tables and chairs that you can find, sometimes with the gambling machines along the side, and the same circular tables and solid wood chairs. Even though male-dominated, they don't seem the same somehow. Heck, you can't get the 22 ounce "quarts" anymore, they give you a bottle that is even bigger than that, too big and round, don't like it. The salt shakers at any rate seem reserved for food now.

I think the tomato thing was just one of those regional tastes that are hard to explicate, did tomatoes grow better in hot Manitoba summers, and down from Halifax in their summers than around Montreal and Toronto? I doubt it. Just one of those inexplicable things.

Heinz tomato, there is no other kindz has the red white and black can. I've had Red Eyes at the Midtown in years gone by and last Saturday morning at the fishing camp. I have tried many different beers in the mix, the best I've found are Rickard's Red and Clancy's Amber. It's good for what ails you.

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